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A: Between being an army brat and moving out on my own, I've never really stayed settled anywhere for longer than a few years. So when I started studying Christian Science just before transferring to a university where I didn't know anyone, this paragraph with the marginal heading "Uses of adversity" from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy stood out to me:Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love. When this hour of development comes, even if you cling to a sense of personal joys, spiritual Love will force you to accept what best promotes your growth. Friends will betray and enemies will slander, until the lesson is sufficient to exalt you; for “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” The author has experienced the foregoing prophecy and its blessings. Thus He teaches mortals to lay down their fleshliness and gain spirituality. This is done through self-abnegation. Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science. (p. 266)
This gave me the impression that sometimes we're going to be alone, but it's always an opportunity for spiritual growth--to better understand God, man, and how God's laws govern everything. After college, I thought a lot about Mrs. Eddy's definition of "wilderness" from the glossary of Science & Health. I love that she defines its surface appearance, but then goes on to explain what's really going on in "wilderness" situations:
WILDERNESS. Loneliness, doubt, darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence. (p. 597)
So I've enjoyed using the time I have alone not to be lonely, but to think about God in all the ways He is a companion and provider--what it means that God is my Father and my Mother. That He is my husband ("Thy maker is thine husband" Isaiah 54:5) and my Shepherd. I'm never alone, because He's always with me--as close to me as my own thought. Every day He's just got something so wonderful in store for me, and He delights in me enjoying it. So I've tried to take the time to listen, to feel that He's near, and just enjoy the "now" He's prepared for me. (See Psalm 23).
And if I ever struggle with loneliness, I just ask God to help me feel that He's with me. To feel at peace. It's actually our divine right to claim that as God's children. But the way I like to claim it is to simply, humbly, ask God for whatever thoughts and feelings I need that moment. I find that prayer is always answered very quickly, usually immediately, and I feel at peace again.
